Tony Hodson has sent me the above image, purchased from Simon Lewis, believing that it could possibly be the Austin Seven Ulster which Tony now owns. Neither Tony, nor Simon, nor I, can identify the event and/or location. Can you? The only clues are that it comes from a roll of film which includes photos…
Category: Trials History Research
Classic Sections – Middle Drag and Fort
The Cotswolds section known as “Middle Drag” has achieved something of a mythic status over the years despite being used, as far as I am aware, only twice, for the 1936 Fedden and 1936 Gloucester Trials. The myth must have started with the photo above, reproduced from C A N May’s classic “Wheelspin“, reinforced by…
The MCC Edinburgh Trial – 100 Not Out?
The MCC, almost uniquely among the clubs organising classic trials, has always been very proud of publicising the lengthy heritage of its events; for example, the 2024 Land’s End was heavily promoted as the 100th, and the 2025 Exeter as the 95th. But the Club has been comparatively coy about an equivalent promotion of the…
How Scooters saved the MCC Edinburgh Trial
This article was first published in Issue 152 of Triple, the Official Journal of the Motor Cycling Club. “Why is an event that takes place entirely in the Peak District called The Edinburgh?” is one of the first questions asked by many newcomers to the sport of classic trials. Most MCC members will be vaguely…
The First MGs in MCC Trials
When I read that FC 7900, the Morris Cowley Special often referred to as “Old Number One”, would be making an appearance at Bluehills Mine during the 2025 Land’s End Trial, I thought it was time to revisit some of the facts and myths surrounding the very earliest MGs and their participation in MCC Trials….
Trials Trivia #8 – The Brighton to Beer Trial
This is something of a mea culpa post. I have referred, a number of times, to the Brighton-Beer (as it became known in its later years) as famously not starting in Brighton (Sussex) nor finishing in Beer (Devon) and, although this may have been true during the trial’s heyday of the 1930s, it was not…
Where is it? – #7
The car in the photo is the famous (at the time) Morris Special owned PreWar by C S L Burleigh and PostWar by Ashley Cleave. Burleigh seems to have used the car primarily for the MCC Land’s End Trials of 1937 to 1939, but Ashley Cleave was a regular competitor in many of the major…
Trials Trivia #7 – Vale Street
Those of you who were at the ACTC Dinner on 16th March, and were lucky enough to have been watching the video at the appropriate time, may have spotted an essential item of trials trivia, probably without even knowing what it was or why it was significant. The short clip showed at least one car…
Trials Trivia #6 – Higher Rill
This is, I’m afraid, one for the real historic trials sections nerds. Back in May 2022, Jonathan Toulmin and I were trying to confirm the location of a photograph, taken on the 1939 Exeter Trial, of his father, Maurice Toulmin, in the Cream Cracker MG TA Reg.No. BBL 78. It was noted as Higher Rill…
The Wharton Special
Ken Wharton was not the first competitor to drop an 1172cc Ford sidevalve engine onto an Austin Seven chassis as the basis for a trials special, but he was certainly the first to make the combination really work. He won a number of events in 1947, and then had an incredibly successful year in 1948…